


The Fires

by TreeFrogSoup



Category: Worm - Wildbow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-06 15:02:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5421461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TreeFrogSoup/pseuds/TreeFrogSoup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was five power granting Vials in Brockton Bay. In one world, they were never used, and they fell into the hands of others. <br/> What would happen if they were used?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1.1 - Ignition Arc - Rewritten

Six people sat around the table in the living room of Pittman house. An open briefcase rested upon Marcus Pittman's lap. He held a stack of paper in between his thick fingers as he hummed and hawed while flipping through them. Gaze drifting from the other five in the room, he took a breath everyone was holding. His son wiped sweat off his brow. One of his daughter's friends bounced her knee anxiously, not quite as if she was being given an expensive toy, even if it wasn't one. 

Marcus Pittman handed several papers to his daughter, leaving a lot more left over for himself to file away. Legal matters and payment that he insisted he'll concern himself with alone.

"As you can see, the package is finally here for you all," He smiled softly.  "I'll be handling the last bits of the legalese. Lucy, I think you should read this."

He quickly glanced at Bethany Cross with a guilty frown and back to Lucy as she coughed and ruffled the papers.

The brunette daughter of Marcus Pittman double checked to see if she was on the right page and then back at her father with a hint of concern once she double checked to see if she wasn't reading incorrectly. "You’re saying Beth might… _mutate_?"

Bethany shifted uncomfortably.

"It’s a _might_ ," Bethany stressed, "and we need to f- We need to do this anyway."

Lucy opened her mouth to protest before Lucas Tate - Lucy's other friend - cut her off.

"We all agreed on this - On saving the city."

Silence held the air still for too long anyways.

Marcus slowly handed out vials as Lucy and Bethany exchanged silent stares.

"I thought it was discouragement," Lucy said numbly. "Beth, you don't have to-"

"We have to, L. I'm not gonna change, you hear me?"

Bethany took her canister canister and looked at the labelling. Lucy put her canister down on her lap and handed some of the papers she had to her brother and their friends. She  wasn't done with Beth, but that girl could be stubborn.

"Double check for me," Marcus asked. "I don't want a single thing to go ay worse than it could."

Lucy frowned as she turned her canister to see the label. "Mine is fine. Torch, Blitzkrieg and Balance, like I ordered."

Ryan Pittman - Lucy’s younger brother and Marcus’s son - nodded as he grabbed his vial. "Ragnarok, Pan and Balance. Do all of them have Balance?" he asked.

Lucas Tate put his sheet down and read a label on the canister before him. "Looks like it."

Bethany turned the canister read the label. "Darwin and Balance - Ain’t that one yours, Teddy?"

Ted Farmer, Ryan’s only friend reached over to grab it and hand over the other one. "Uh, Thanks Beth."

They all shook their canisters and got ready to drink.

"Together?" Lucy asked.

"Sure," Lucas said, thinking of it more like taking group shots than gaining superpowers. "Three, two, one..."

Pain.

\---

Lucy woke up with her father shaking her shoulders roughly, too panicked to care about actual First Aid. His short, pudgy face gave way to worry that wasn't fitting on him. "Lucy, wake up! Are you okay? Can you count my fingers? Lucy!"

She pushed her arms up to stop her dad before her head rolled off her neck and winced at the pained expression he gave. The pain aching through her slowly faded away as she got her bearings on the chair she slumped into, but eventually she gave a smile and her dad began to smother her in a tight hug.

"Stop- can't breathe!"

"You were out like a light," Ryan said from the corner of the room, seated in a chair.  Unlike his sister, he had dark brown hair, much like his father Marcus did.  “I figured you'd have woken up, but dad was upset as all hell over it. We were worried."

Lucy managed to just pry herself away from her father’s death grip and looked around the room again. Everyone was there, up and awake with the exception of Bethany. Lucas was standing behind Marcus nursing his forehead. Ryan was in his seat, rested and content with his eyes closed tightly. Ted was at the worktop counter for the kitchen... everyone but Bethany was here.

"Where’s Beth?" Lucy asked, slowly rising to her feet as Marcus tried to help her up with his hand. Now that she was actually looking at details, Ted’s eyes were sealed shut, skin growing where they were before.

_Please don't tell me we messed up,_ she worriedly thought. _Shit, I knew it._

"I’m here," said something vaguely like Beth's voice from behind the door to the walk-in kitchen pantry. "I- I can't come out. The stupid vial fucked me over!"

Lucy didn’t understand. Was there a mutation of some sort? What did the paper call it… A Deviation? _No._ Did both Ted and Beth mutate? _No, that can't be._ Beth was okay with the risks, she didn't have any family, but Ted... _How do we explain it to Margaret?_

She felt a pull from everyone but her father, yet the greatest feeling was from both Lucas and Ryan, who were the closest to her. It was distracting and pulled her out of her worried cycle of panic.

_Was this a part of my power?_ _Did my powers have something to do with bonds?_ She walked over to the closet door Beth was behind and grabbed the handle.

"Stop!" Marcus slammed his body against the door with a charge before Lucy could turn the handle. His face was pained, pleading for her not to open the door.

Lucy looked almost angry for a moment, but before she could say anything to her panting father, her brother explained.

"She gives people migraines when they look at her. Real bad migraines. Ryan and Ted looked at her for too long, and well..."

As if to finish the sentence, Ted’s skin slowly split away to show his eyes again.

"Lucky me?" Ted suggested with a smile.

"Look, The situation isn't that bad, right? We've got what we wanted. Just listen to me and calm down. You've got powers now. Heroic powers."

It was true. They chose vials that were likely to get different results with little overlap in what Ratings they’d earn. A well rounded combination, in at least Lucy’s eyes. Marcus emphasised that everyone took ranged powers, but ceded to Teddy and Beth's suggestion that there needs to be at least one frontline fighter. Still, Bethany’s results worried them. Lucy most of all, as she didn't know what had happened to her friend.

"Fuck this," Lucy swore to herself.  "Lucas, I need a towel. Upstairs in the bathroom!"

Lucas bolted upstairs in the front hallway of the Pittman manor. After a few minutes, he was back downstairs with several towels in his arms.

"What're they for?"

Lucy grabbed them, then with surprising strength, yanked open the door with strength enough to move her father. Pain shot straight through her entire head like an electric jolt and she slammed her eyelids shut as fast as she could, ignoring her own urge to cry out like everybody else just did. Lucy threw a towel over Beth's head and after a few cautious seconds, opened her eyelids as a test.

It worked perfectly, but even then there was an issue from the way the towel draped over her friend.

Bethany wasn't that tall. Bethany didn't have grey legs. Bethany didn't have three toes.

Lucy stood there, shocked and unable to move, to think, to say a thing.  How could she comfort her friend? She didn't really know how.

Lucas too the helm and stepped past Lucy, wrapping the girls in a massive hug.

"Come on, don't be upset."

With a hesitant pause, Lucy hugged Beth and Lucas back.

\---

Everyone was finally back together at the table again. Beth was firmly hidden under a set of heavy winter clothes and towels, blanketing her as much as possible, just to make sure whatever she does doesn't happen again, even if it isn't that bad. She was curled up in a ball on  set of three chairs as Lucas and Lucy hugged her from either side, Lucas rubbing her back calmly and Lucy with her arm over her shoulders.

The table was clear, and Marcus leaned against it as best he could. He was in full-on 'concerned father' mode, looking at everyone with a deadly and serious glare one by one.

"We need to know your long term plans here before you do anything," he said. "We've talked about this, but now is time for some solid plans and a commitment to them."

Lucy made a nervous cough. "We were always going to take out the gangs one at a time. Merchants, Empire, Asian Bad Boys."

“I don’t want to deal with Lung or the like at all if we can yet,” Lucas commented. “We don’t know how our powers work at all yet, so I would avoid provoking them. It's a ood thing we arent, but i'm just stating that to be sure.”

Lucas leaned forwards, his hands on the table. “The Empire is large, maybe we can get a few of their lesser members.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow.

"...but not right now. Small fry first. Isn't there two thief teams and independants? Faultline, Circus... Undersiders?"

"Um, there's Coil too," Ted added sheepishly.

_Two targets off the list already,_ thought Lucy.

That left Coil, Faultline, The Merchants and the Undersiders. Much easier than getting outnumbered or picking a fight they may not win. Unfortunately, complications arose. Coil was nearly inaccessible to find, being a Tinker or Thinker using mercenaries to gain territory downtown for whatever purpose he has. Faultline’s crew was dangerously good at what they did, notable for trouncing most people stopping their missions and frequently acting outside of Brockton Bay itself. Undersiders? Uber and Leet? Circus? They held no territory. It was a case of being on patrol and getting lucky when it came to catching them.

That was why the Merchants of Archer's Bridge was the first target. A group of three or so parahumans who were too wasted to fight properly and dealt hardcore drugs. Also, they weren't important. Easy pickings to get rid of, somebody who won't be missed and most importantly to Marcus, somebody safe to learn how heroism works.

After all, they didn't even control the street they were named after anymore.

Lucy leaned back in her seat. "Merchants, then."


	2. 1.2 - Ignition Arc - Rewritten

Ryan sat on the roof of the multi-storey apartment complex with a cheap and old halloween mask on his face from years ago, leaning against the edge and peeking down.  Turning to his sister, he gave a worried look and whined quietly.

"I don't like this idea."

They both were staring at a house across the street that was supposed to be derelict. Sadly, the Power was left uncut and there were Squatters inside, all partying and drinking. One might have mistaken it for a teen's houseparty if not for the ages of the occupants and the needles on the unkempt front lawn. A frail while woman twice the height of the man leading her out of the building threw up on the steps and then fell on it, taking him with her.

Lucy didn't look at her brother at all.  "Why? We agreed on this already."

The inebriated pair picked themselves up and then stumbled down the street, partially stained with vomit.

"Going out as just the two of us?"  Ryan asked.  "Without Lucas or Ted? In the night? We might get hurt, or-"

"It's fine,"  Lucy snapped at her younger brother before his concerns hit home.  "Come on."

Lucy got up as soon as the man and woman were out of sight and walked towards the ladder leading to the roof, slowly followed by Ryan after he let out a huff and followed her, constantly checking the street below with worry. They climbed down the ladder and walked out of the alley into the street and across the road, Ryan looking a million times more worried than Lucy ever could, Jumpy and eyes darting from side to side as Lucy strutted across the street as if cars would part like the red sea if they did come towards her.

There was nobody else watching the house's front doors as the lower windows were boarded up. It was the top floor window covers that were knocked out. A sheet of metal lay next to the stairs where it would have been over the door barring entry.

Lucy stood around the pool of vomit dripping down the steps and Ryan stood behind her, a step behind outside of the closed door.

"Remember the plan?"

Ryan nodded.

With a grin behind her mask, she kicked open the wooden door hard enough the top hinge broke and and stretched her arms wide, her entrance ruined as it took a few seconds for the door to stop falling and for the Merchants partying inside to realize there was somebody there.

Eventually in the house with peeling wallpaper and a crowd of people, They slowly began to realize what had happened, a cautious few moving to better vantage in the cramped space.

"Hello, Merchants!" Lucy almost sang, a smile over her face as her domino mask covered her nose and upper cheeks.

Almost instantly, several guns were raised.

"The fuck are you?" One particularly itchy looking man with missing teeth uttered, his gun held upside down for some reason.  "Who are you?"

Lucy didn't budge from her pose as Ryan paled behind his mask. He covering the entrance to make sure they couldn't be attacked from behind. An unlikely but dangerous situation to be in.

"I'm an eviction notice."

"Eviction..." One of the others slowly recalled what that was. "Hey, fuck you! You can't evict us! We don't _live_ here, bitch!"

"No, you're squatting here. This house is supposed to be derelict. There's a reason why the windows are boarded up."

"So? You can't make us leave even if we are squatting, bitch!"

Impressed with their honesty, Lucy stood to the side to let her brother step forwards with a small push on his back.

"Alarm," she addressed Ryan, "please show them what we mean."

Alarm raised a hand, his eyes lit up with a white glow and he fired a wave of concussive light from his fingertips. It filled the room, striking and blinding everyone inside as it bounced off the walls like a wave to reach further inside the house.  Tables of drugs, drink and money were knocked as if they received a hard kick, sending ponder and liquids into the air while people fell on their backs or stumbled backwards into walls.

Several shrieks of fear and surprise sounded out, and then it grew until everyone was terrified.  The toothless merchant defecated in his clothes as he sat on his backside wide eyed, staring at his gun.  He threw it at the wall as hard as he could and scrambled to his feet, rushing for the doorway and boarded up windows with most other people.

"And now my turn," Lucy muttered, far too quietly to be heard by the screaming crowds as they reached her, fighting each other as they jerked away from each other and jostled for position in a tangled stampede. She raised her own hand and fired a red wall of power, which filled the room with another wave of light that proceeded to ignite everything it waved over. Hair singed, powder and alcohol burned, the wallpaper ignited and people screamed.

By the time the crowd had reached her, she'd already turned to her brother as her vision began to blur and quickly made it down the stairs.

"Why do this?"  Alarm asked, rubbing his eyes. He knew it was a bad idea from the start as his blobby, hazy vision saw somebody rip a burning pair of jeans off and run away bottomless down the street.

"Impact." Lucy groaned as they made it down the street. Everyone was still in complete terror. It would take roughly five minutes to wear off, and only fifteen seconds had passed so far. Thankfully, they'd be scared of everything, so there was no worry about them attacking herself or Alarm.

"I want to break Skidmark's flunkies first. He has nothing but his druggies and fellow capes."

"They're  _hurting_ ,"  Alarm pleaded. As if to punctuate his point, a girl screamed especially loudly.

He was worried people were going to come out at some point and wonder what was happening.

"So?"

"It's not their fa-"

"You can do drugs _without_ joining a gang that sells to children, Alarm. Let's just get out of here. Pick up the pace."

They ducked into the alley and quickly made their way through the winding mess that was Brockton Bay's schizoid architectural ideals, making their way into the area where apartments led to gardens and alleyways outside of sight of anyone. There was an old garden shed not that far away from a swingpark where they stored their stuff.

Wordlessly changing and making their way to their car after buying some food from a convenience store, Ryan sat down and opened a packet of biscuits.

"The name 'Blazegranter' is lame, you know that?" Ryan said between mouthfuls of crumbs. "I'm so glad you didn't actually use that, you know?"

Lucy smiled as she turned on her car's engine. "Sure thing, tyke."


	3. 1.3

Lucas tried to hold in a laugh as Lucy stood across the kitchen counter, her face the epitome of annoyance. He was slightly shaking his shoulders as he hunched over a bowl of cereal, milk dripping down his chin while Ryan patted his back, far too amused at the fact his sister's friend was choking.  
  
"It's not stupid!" Lucy protested.  
  
"It is!" cried Ryan. "Even Luke agrees!"  
  
"What's stupid?" Marcus asked as he walked into the kitchen where the pair sat.  
  
Lucy opened her mouth to protest but Ryan quickly cut in. "Dad, if I told you there was a cape called 'Blazegranter' running about, what would you think of the name?"  
  
Marcus smiled with a look of pity and shook his head as he turned on the stove and grabbed two eggs to drop into the frying pan. Lucas finally managed to swallow his mouthful of cereal and grinned at lucy, wiping his chin of milk.  
  
"Even dad agrees," Ryan beamed with triumph only seen from siblings bickering.  
  
Lucy resigned herself in her cereal, stirring it and mumbling to herself. Lucas didn't catch much but the words 'awesome' and 'liar' stood out from the crowd.  
  
After finishing his breakfast, Lucas got up off the table.  
  
"I'm going to check up on Bethany. Ted is home, correct?"  
  
Marcus turned away from the bacon and eggs he was frying. "Yes, he is. Mr and Mrs Farmer called to pick him up after Eight but he will be back after school."  
  
Ryan chewed noticeably slower, gears in his mind slowly turning as he began to remember a very important thing. Eventually, he stopped and his face turned very pale. Marcus did notice that.  
  
"Ryan, did you do your homework?"  
  
"Yeah," Ryan replied a little too uneasily. "I have my essay done for English, and the one for History, too."  
  
"And Maths?" Marcus asked.  
  
"Yeah, It's the last class of the day and I only have the questions about vectors left, so..."  
  
"Ryan Pittman, do it  _now_."  
  
Ryan's eyes widened and he reached for his backpack as fast as possible.  
  
\---  
  
Lucas stood in front of the second of the four the guest rooms upstairs. All of the doors in the house were made from a thick, solid white pine that was varnished. At the time the house was built it may have cost a lot of money. Lucas knocked a couple of times, before asking through the door. "Bethany, are you awake?"  
  
There was a small pause and a faint ruffling noise before Bethany answered him. "Yeah, I'm awake!"  
  
"Did you sleep?" Lucas asked.  
  
"No."  
  
Lucas didn't respond. He spent his time thinking about what to do to cheer Bethany up, which is a better course of action than letting her wallow in misery out of sight and potentially out of mind.  
  
"Bethany, would you like to go out with me and Lucy in costume? Lucy has already done something with Ryan, and we do know of another area that would do well with getting cleared out."  
  
It was a gamble to suggest going out while all of Bethany's issues were with her appearance, but if he took Bethany's mind away from her state by focusing the goals they had committed themselves to, she would be a lot better off.  
  
"When?"  
  
"One hour," Lucas smiled. "I have to grab Lucy."  
  
He turned, but before he actually left, Bethany shouted through the door. "Wait!"  
  
"Beth?"  
  
"You can come in," she paused for a moment. "please."  
  
Lucas quietly opened the door and saw Bethany covered in sheets. The mirror was taken down, facing the wall and covered in a sheet. Likewise, the dresser mirror was also covered in cloth. There was no light in the room at all except for a beam from the window illuminating dust and a little bit of Beth's covered outline.  
  
He first thought about the room then felt a wave of guilt hit him. He should have been more worried about Beth, not what Mr. Pittman will think about some cloth draped over a mirror and dresser.  
  
"Bethany?"  
  
The bed sheet covered inhabitant didn't move at all in response. Lucas step forwards again, then placed his hand on Bethany, who was underneath.  
  
"Can you stay here for a moment? Just a little while?"  
  
"Sure," he replied, sitting beside her on the bed in the dark.  
  
Having nothing he could say, nothing neither of them could say, they simply sat in silence.  
  
___  
  
Lucas's costume was surprisingly well done in comparison to Lucy's ragtag mess of flame decorated clothes, red gloves and red mask. He'd taken some old formalwear and after discovering exactly what he was capable of, had knitted a target onto the breast and pocket flaps, as well as a larger one on the back of his jacket and the front of his undercoat. He'd taken a small satchel with him to hold a collection of darts, throwable knives made from ordinary cutlery and a couple of small hatchets, as well as several stones and a first aid kit.  
  
Bethany on the other hand wore just a cloak and mask used to suppress her ability, with a shirt and pair of shorts underneath. She couldn't pretend to have a human form with her newfound body, as her new foot shape made shoes impossible and her horns gave her cloak a pronounced shape.  
  
All three were scouting out an abandoned restaurant from behind a closed down fast food restaurant, one of the many derelict buildings in the outskirts of the docks and surrounding neighbourhoods that occasionally served as a home for squatters and the homeless and as hideouts for the gangs that didn't have parahuman muscle. More importantly, it was in ABB territory, formerly "owned" by a small Japanese street gang.  
  
Like most gangs in the area, the ABB took over, stripped the funds it had and kicked out the non-asian members violently.  
  
By destroying and evicting the Merchants, they'd alleviate tensions in the area. Sure, the ABB would have a tighter grip, but there wouldn't be any gang war, especially since they were kicked out by an unaffiliated group of vigilantes. Or so, that was the plan.  
  
Catalyst - Lucy - put down the binoculars she was using over her mask and turned to Bethany. "Okay, the coast is clear. Gouge, it's your move."  
  
Both Catalyst and Ordinance shut their eyes as Gouge opened up her cloak and lept off the roof, covering a distance as three footsteps and the jingle of bells could be faintly heard over the faint sounds of decadence.  
  
Sounds that became screams.  
  
The screams of pain had started only when Catalyst and Ordinance had reached the bottom of the ladder, crossing the street as partygoers, addicts and Merchants stepped out into the street, most stumbling and crawling, with one or two being carried.  
  
A woman collapsed on her knees and threw up in front of Ordinance, tears running down her face.  
  
Still, not everyone was blinded, and Ordinance reached into his bag to pull out a dart which he then threw without looking at the doorway. Just as he did, a Merchant with a gun in his hand turned to the door and received a hit to the top of his knee, making him drop his gun in pain.  
  
Gouge - now cloaked again - barreled over him with astonishing speed onto the front porch. She turned to look at the windows of the second floor, looking for something before leaping up for it, reaching out-  
  
Ordinance covered his eyes as he pulled out a throwing knife and tossed it into one of the open windows, nailing a man with a gun on the wrist as he stuck his gun up and out to fire.  
  
He turned to Catalyst. "Okay, they're spooked. Now how do we get them running without attracting  _too_  much attention?"  
  
"Burn the house down once everybody is out," Catalyst supplied with a smile. "The plan is working well."  
  
"The plan failed," Ordinance said. "I know that already."  
  
"Failed?" she cocked her head to the side. "The bottom floor is alrea-"  
  
Before she could even finish, Ordinance tackled her to the ground and pulled out a throwing knife, tossing it somewhere.  
  
"Somebody is here!" he shouted, trying to explain his actions.  
  
Catalyst looked up from her position on her back to see a stumbling figure in her upside down view. A red mask with a black bodysuit, adorned with a bandoleer of grenades and knives.  
  
Oni Lee was here.  
  
The body fell down, exploding into a mess of ash as Ordinance rolled onto his back and threw a second knife into the air. It reached it's crest, Oni Lee appeared before him and just as he was about to strike it struck him in the top of the head. Not a killing blow, as he faded into ash again, letting the second knife fall to the road.  
  
"Cat-"  
  
Catalyst wasn't as good as Ordinance at this. Lee appeared before her and with a quick lunge, stabbed her thigh. The only thing stopping it being a lethal attempt on her chest being Ordinance pulling him down.  
  
Covered in more ash from that Oni Lee's disappearance, he scrambled to his feet, grabbing another knife. Catalyst tried to get to her own two feet but gasped in pain at the knife in her leg.  
  
"Shit," she hissed. "Got his power, though."  
  
"His power?"  
  
"Yeah. It's sight based. We can take him."  
  
Ordinance threw a knife over Catalyst's shoulder, nailing a clone behind her in the eye. It exploded into dust as the knife hit. Not even finished, he turned around and threw a dart quickly at the Oni Lee that was behind him. That one too turned to ash, out of sight of the pair of them.  
  
"It's too much," urged Ordinance. "Get inside, call the PRT, we'll handle stuff later. Please."  
  
Catalyst stared at Ordinance for a pregnant moment, before turning her head to the house inside.  
  
Then she burst into flames, screaming.  
  
"Lu- Cat!"  
  
Ordinance took two instinctual steps towards Catalyst as she feel to the ground, screaming as fire erupted from her body, burning away flesh, muscle, bone and organs. It took him too long to remember what Lucy's power was, and that she didn't just spontaneously combust.  
  
Long enough for him to feel a sharp pain in his lower back, followed by a trickle of blood.  
  
He fell into the charred pile that was once Lucy and tried to scream as the pain hit him. Turning over, He saw Oni Lee standing there, looking down at him with a bloody knife.  
  
Just before he could finish him off, Lee looked up, covered his face on instinct and turned away, disappearing.  
  
 _The plan failed indeed,_  he mused as Lucy and Beth's footsteps grew louder, then fainter.


	4. 1.4

Gouge saw everything from the upper floor window of the building. Oni Lee attacking Catalyst and Ordinance. Catalyst's clone screaming in agony.  
  
She was already leaping out the window into the street below just in time to see Ordinance fall over with the back of his costume bleeding onto the ground from a stab wound. Her feet hit the road with a thud and her new physique allowed her to make bouncing steps right to him rapidly. Oni Lee looked up at her as she closed the gap and covered his face instantly from her power before exploding into ash. He'd fled for some reason.  
  
"Ordinance!"  
  
None of that was a comfort. Ordinance was hurt badly. Lucas was hurt badly. She knelt down and checked on her friend. He was bleeding, not profusely but enough. That didn't matter because the knife was gone, possibly turned into ash. Was Oni Lee's ash infectious, or like asbestos dust? What if he was gravely ill? His eyes were closed and his breathing was troubled. Did he get stabbed in the lungs?  
  
Her costume didn't have any space for first aid. Instead, she opened Ordinance's bag and looked for his stuff. Needles, bandages, latex gloves, antiseptic. She rolled Ordinance onto his side and lifted his jacket enough to show the stab wound. It was a gnarly looking hole. Oni Lee didn't just stab, but stabbed and twisted hard.  
  
The gloves didn't fit her. No gloves did. Instead, she poured some antiseptic over her fingers and rubbed them before grabbing the bandage. She added a little more and hoped she remembered correctly. Where the fuck is Catalyst? Ordinance gasped as the sting hit him, and Gouge pondered the idea of trying to fit the two bits of flesh limply hanging out in or not.  
  
_No,_  she realised,  _I need to close the wound._  
  
She pushed the wound closed and pressed the bandage over it, taking care to wrap it around Ordinance's stomach and back over and over. The whole roll was used, mostly because she was not thinking straight. Where the fuck are you, lucy?  
  
The faint blare of sirens in the distance made themselves noticed, and Gouge was anxious. She'd finished with Ordinance, but Catalyst was nowhere to be seen, and Ordinance was still out cold. Whether it be from the shock of being stabbed or something worse, she had no clue, but it meant she was out in the open and she couldn't move Lucas.  
  
"Fuck, where are you?"  
  
The sirens got rapidly louder. The faint worry that they were for here became a certain dread, and Gouge was in the worst place possible.  
  
Catalyst was gone, right? She couldn't have abandoned them.  
  
She lost her temper and screamed into the night, hoping Catalyst would hear her. "Get fucking over here!"  
  
Beth knew Lucas and Lucy for years. They'd gone to the same private school together - Immaculata - where Teddy and Ryan went together. They'd done stuff before, like camping, going onto Lucas' Uncle's ranch for the weekend and just last year taking a holiday to france.  
  
They weren't sisters, but they'd grown up close enough that they knew the ins and outs of each other. Enough that Lucy would know she was serious.  
Faint screaming came from the building they'd just cleared out and Lucy - Catalyst - was standing beside her, facing away. Frustration boiled over. Was she really just hiding while Lucas bled out in the street? She could have helped with the bandages, or something!  
  
She snarled at Catalyst. "What the fuck are you doing? I'm right here and-"  
  
"Lucas told me to hide inside the house and call emergency services," Catalyst cut in.  
  
"And you just listened to him?" Gouge spat back.  
  
There was a cold silence as Catalyst didn't say anything. Eventually the sirens reached a crescendo as they became too close for Gouge and Catalyst to move Ordinance away in time, meaning that the only option left was to abandon him. She didn't want to do that. She also didn't want to deal with the PRT, the Protectorate or anybody else. This wasn't supposed to happen.  
  
She couldn't finish this, she needed to get out of sight before she caused a crash. She quickly covered herself with her cloak and mask, got to her knees, grabbed Catalyst's hand and pulled her away from Ordinance.  
  
"We need to go," she muttered.  
  
"But Ordinance-"  
  
"But nothing! We need to go!"  
  
Catalyst followed beth into the alleyway as the ambulance quickly skidded to a halt, motorbike ridden by Miss Militia following directly behind it, and Velocity to the left side, running on foot. A fire engine and a police car followed not that far away, but after a few seconds the fire engine left.  
  
Gouge picked up the pace and after turning a corner out of sight, squeezed tightly on Lucy's arm. "Who did you call?"  
  
"Emergency services," Catalyst stated as if that was an answer.  
  
"All of them? What the fuck are you doing!?"  
  
"But Ordin-"  
  
"But fucking nothing!" Gouge screamed angrily. "He meant an ambulance, not the Protectorate and fire brigade, fuck!"  
  
Catalyst craned her neck towards her, eyes shut tightly. "Are you saying that when Ordinance says-"  
  
"I'm guessing that you two are involved with the cape on the road?"  
  
The pair turned around to face Velocity who was standing a distance away, Miss Militia beside him. They covered the alley where they had came from, but were far back enough that if things turned ugly they could get away. Not only that, due to the length of the alley, they were practically in a shooting range.  
  
_You've got to be fucking kidding me,_  Gouge groaned internally.  
  
Neither Catalyst nor Gouge could handle bullets. Even if Gouge blinded Miss Militia, she didn't need to aim as there was little to run to, especially with Catalyst with her. They were trapped.  
  
The situation seemed to find a way to get worse every minute. Oni Lee shows up and tries to kill Catalyst, Ordinance and everyone running away. Ordinance gets stabbed by Oni Lee in the back. Catalyst calls all the emergency services possible instead of an ambulance. Now they're cornered in an alley by two members of the Protectorate, and she doesn't know what to do. Consequences piling up for being too eager, too cocky.  
  
"We don't really know who you three are," Velocity continued, breaking the strained silence between the four. "But I think the person that we have  _may_  be a teammate?"  
  
"Yes," said Catalyst, "He's a teammate."  
  
Gouge shot her a death stare.  _What the fuck is she doing, making everything so hard?_  
  
_No, she has an idea._  
  
"We're not villains, if you're wondering," Gouge put her hands up, letting go of Catalyst.  
  
Miss Militia's knife fuzzed out into an indecipherable shape, before reforming into a larger one as she shifted her stance and spoke. "There's several people out there who are injured. One man has a cut in his inner leg. You do know that he could have died without medical attention, right?"  
  
"We don't want any trouble," Gouge said with a little more force than she should have used. "We're leaving, okay?"  
  
"And your teammate?" asked Velocity, "What about him? If you aren't villains, you'd at the very least come with us to be there, to clear all this stuff up, right?"  
  
Being frustrated at everything for going so haywire was clouding her thoughts, making it too hard to think straight. Even then, eventually she conceded.  
  
"Okay, we'll come with you."


	5. 1.5

Firegrant knew that Skidmark was in there.

She felt it; two distinctive yet faint pulls across the street and inside the building. One was clearly stronger than another, but apart from a gut feeling there was nothing.

The street was clearly owned by Merchants, not just the house. Boarded up windows and broken ones were as common as normal ones. Drunken partying faintly filled the air. Alarm was focusing, trying to calm himself. They were going to fight capes, actual capes.

Firegrant filled the tense silence.

"You still didn't choose a name, Ted."

Ted looked at Firegrant. "Uh, no. Guess I didn't."

"You should totally come up with a name,"  Firegrant continued obliviously. "Crawler?"

"That's taken," Ted replied.

"And? There's a ton of english speaking countries, I'm sure there's tonnes of taken names."

"He's alive,"  Alarm finally interrupted with a hint of irritation in his voice.  "He's in the USA and he's part of The Nine."

Firegrant stayed quiet as Ted snickered silently.

They were still watching, even as they had their bickering from the inside of one of the abandoned buildings nearby.  Firegrant saw the man standing watch finally walk away from his post, pulling out a small metal box.

 

"Pills,"  Firegrant sneered.

She got up from her position and walked out the back of the house, creeping through the small alley behind the houses that reached through the block.  Ted and Alarm both followed her, keeping silent as they weaved through the occasional dumpster and mess to reach the house.

The trio paused to see if the pill popping guard was still busy. He was.

"Teddy," Firegrant said.  "Your cue."

Ted focused his powers. He had a changer form that adapted to allow him to do whatever he needed, even changing to overcome obstacles he doesn't know about.  Lucas had an idea of how it worked after he blinded himself to face Bethany, and did some testing, trying to get Ted to change a few times, but with Somebody going to stop him half the time.

His changes were varied.  Sometimes he'd grow faster, or gained camouflage. One time his fingers grew stingers at the end. At all potentially helped fend off Lucy during the test.

His entire face, neck, chest and arms grew plating, with his arms extending and flattening out.  More bony, black plates grew, leaving his arms more resembling battle axes than limbs.

His fingers grew rougher, larger. Perfect for grabbing.

Finally, his legs shifted in size, swelling in his trousers.

"It feels uh, strange," Ted remarked.

His voice shifted to a deeper tone, no doubt because of his muscles in his neck changing.

Changes done, he began to walk across the street, picking up his pace after he reaches the other side of the road.  He changed to a sprint and shoulder barged into the door, powering through it.

The door splintered and broke off it's hinges in an impressive yet clumsy fashion. Merchants in the building pulled out their guns and began firing at Ted while he slowly managed his way into the room.

Bullets hit the scales and occasionally fell off, more of them lodged inside and a few broke the boned armour.  Those lucky shots didn't help the Merchants much. Ted charged down the room, knocking and charging into three men standing in front of him. A second merchant leapt out with a pipe, but Ted swung his arm and cut into it.  The gangster looked a little pale and let go, backing away slowly.

Ted would have let him run, but realized Alarm was standing outside.

"Sorry,"  he rumbled, grabbing and throwing him to the floor before pulling off the Pipe and hitting him hard enough to break it in two where the cut was made.

Alarm quickly entered the house after Ted and followed as he opened one door.

Instantly, Ted was flung backwards and grabbed onto the doorframe. He didn't get a perfect grip and a small wooden box bashed against him, so after a few seconds of frantic holding the force won and pushed him away.  Skidmark was in this room.

He fired his blast into the room, filling the area with white as he ducked out of the way of whatever rubbish was being thrown out and at Ted.

He certainly hit the right targets, because the screaming instantly began as soon as the flash was over.

Firegrant made her way through the house to the pair as Ted was hit by a flying, overweight woman. She bounced comically off Ted and rolled to the side, knocked out from the impact.

"I think I can grab a copy of his power from here," Firegrant said. "You okay?"

Alarm waved her off. "Can't see right now. Skid's probably panicking."

Firegrant glanced into the room, ignoring Ted as he slowly picked himself up.  Skidmark was certainly there, screaming curses and surrounded by his power, pushing everyone into nearby walls. Two people were incapacitated from being thrown into furniture by the villain who'd clearly soiled himself in terror.  Unluckily, one of the people who wasn't knocked out cold was Mush, who had covered his body in garbage, trying to gather more mass using splintered wood, paper, dust and grime.

Firegrant felt Skidmark and Mush's powers, ready to grab copies.

She did so.

"Okay, I'm good."

She used Skidmark's powers to throw some trash across the room.

It ignited and Skidmark turned to look at it.

"Get fucking back!"  He screamed, putting layers onto the ground to push it against the wall.  Skidmark's voice was literally cracking from his frantic screams.  "Everyone get the fuck away from me, get out!  Who fucking did this!?  Tell me?"

Ted crawled through the doorway, past the layer by hauling himself through the barrier. He charged across the room as Skidmark was turned away, focused on Mush and the flaming garbage on the far side of the room.

He barely reached into the defensive barriers, but he did reach far enough to grab Skidmark's shirt and pull him backwards.

His barrier worked against him, throwing him into the wall with a crash as he smashed into a cabinet.

The barriers dropped; Skidmark was knocked out.

Firegrant smiled as she stepped into the room.  "Well, that was easy."

The panic was almost gone, but everyone in the room who was awake was visibly scared, Mush included.

Sadly, Mush had a go-to reaction to terror; attack it.

He charged across the room swinging his arms wide. Firegrant was barely able to duck it due to holding Alarm, but his attack was aiming for Ted instead.

Ted raised his fists and felt the blow glance off, dust and paper sliding around the shielded forearms. he responded by tackling Mush and carrying him through one of the broken windows. Mush fell partway out the window, falling backwards into the outside.

Firegrant turned to the remaining Merchants.

"Skidmark is done! The Merchants are done!"  She proclaimed.  "Either you join me, give up this... cycle of failure."

She pointed at Mush. "Or you stay with him, and suffer with people _like_ him.  I know you are better than that, I'm giving you a chance."

"Fuck off!" shouted one Merchant.

"No," Firegrant replied. "You fuck off. The exit's that way."

He growled.  He got up and limped to the exit, but still growled in defiance.

"Come on, I know some of you want this shit to end! Just leave if you want to stay with idiots like him."

Three more got up and left.  A room of thirteen reduced to five, but it was a good start.

Firegrant barely caught the sight of Skidmark placing a tile at her feet, knocking her onto her face.

"You bitch,"  He cursed.  "That fucking hurt, you know?"

Skidmark slowly, painfully pulled himself from the cabinet and stumbled to the door.  Firegrant was ready for him and placed her own barrier at the doorway.  Unluckily for her, she choose the wrong way.

Skidmark was launched out he doorway and his clothes began smouldering and burning.  He began beating the fire off his shirt and turned back to the room for a quick glance before running.

"Shit," Firegrant mumbled, picking herself up. "Almost had him."

Ted stomped to Alarm and helped him up.  "Um, Mush got away, Firegrant."

"We still kicked their asses, it was just bad luck," Firegrant replied. "Doesn't mean anything."

She turned to the three Merchants who didn't flee and were awake. "Are you joining us?"


	6. 1.F

The rumours flew often and with details changed, but at the end of the day they told one story: Monsters were in Brockton Bay.

"..this flash of light and everyone ran, I jumped out the window and there was this giant beast..."

"..it was crawling on the ceiling with it's long legs, Tommy glanced at it and it hurt, man! He told me he closed my eyes and it was gone..."

"...giant crab like thing cut the pipe Joseph held with it's claws..."

"He kept shooting and nothing worked it was covered in this black ooze..."

"She said this monster thing was running about in the alleyway, it was impossible to see it was going that fast. "

"Did you hear? The Merchants are being eaten by monsters.  Skidmark apparently shit himself when they tried to eat him!"

 _No, not just an arrival,_ thought Faultline.   _Multiple actors. A new gang?_

She put away the notes, a collection of transcripts from conversations overheard, rumours paid to hear and even occasional CCTV recordings of her cover businesses caught a multitude of stories and tales all telling the same four stories.  She only decided to take a look when a series of arsons occurred in Merchant owned territory clued her into a possible trigger with a grudge against merchants. It's good practice to know all the players, even if you refuse to play the game.

She had a second notebook, listing all possible members and other notes.

Arsonist cape - Blaze or Fire -Granter. At several attacks, openly waging war on Skidmark according to witnesses. May or may not be a Trump.

Wall Crawling Cape - Stranger? Mover? Differing recounts. Might be cause of Mass Panic.

Crab C ape - Oozes oil? Same cape? Invulnerable?

Attacking Merchants - Why? Heroic? Grudge? Easy target? Practice? Cowardly?

She put the notes away to the side of her desk.  It wouldn't do to invest too much time snooping, and if a group was willing to fight the Merchants she'd happily let them. The main risk is them provoking both Lung or Kaizer, drawing their wrath.

There's also Coil. Did the three territory gangs gain a new competitor Did the PRT and New Wave gain an ally? It was too early to tell.

She put the papers back into the folder and closed it, before getting up and placing the folder in a bookshelf.

It wasn't for her to worry about for now, and it was also a dead lead regarding Gregor and Newter's request as far as she could tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small chapter, really. I had a larger snip planed, but it didn't fit Faultline at all, or even the Undersiders. I hate Characters getting pointless hunches for plots, so I decided to do a half-hunch. "Oh look, something's going on. I'll look into it but not invest enough effort that I go OOC."
> 
> I'm looking at you, every fic with Lisa in the first arc.


	7. 2.1

The hall was crowded, and scented with a mixture of food, sweat, ash and cleaning products. Three rows of tables sat in the shelter, only half filled.

 _Normally it would be a good thing,_   Lucy mused.   _But this is because they just die or join gangs._

 

She scooped out some mashed potatoes out and placed it on the tray held up to her.  This one person was a dirty blonde girl, her brown eyes obscured by a hood with a tear on it.

She shimmied away to a table, replaced by yet another person queueing up.  It continued over and over until everyone was fed, leaving only small scraps.

Lucy put her gloves in the washing machine and hung her apron on the rack before giving a small smile and a pat on the back of one of the other volunteers.

She grabbed her coat, pushed the door open and left for home, worrying the whole day about the future.  The team's future, specifically.  They were working out of her father's house, but the time has passed for that.  They'd fought the Merchants and beaten Skidmark two days ago and now they needed somewhere to hole up, to store resources and keep their identities separate from their personal lives.  The thought of somebody attacking her home, coming in the night again...

A car horn beeped as stopped at the road.  Lucy almost decided to pick up her pace until she saw the driver.

"Lucas,"  She smiled.  "What's with the new car?"

"It's actually my Dad's," he replied.  "Mine is in the garage and I'm borrowing it for today. Need a lift?"

Lucy opened the back door and climbed in.  "Thanks, Lucas. It's a hassle walking so far."

Lucas hit the pedal and began driving through the streets to the gated community where the Pittman family lived. It was like an invisible gradient of poverty starting at the massive iron fence.

"But you won't stop," Lucas added sagely as he stopped the car. A guard in the booth nearby saw the familiar sight of the pair and pressed the button to open the gates, allowing Lucas to drive in.

"No, I won't.  I don't want to stop."

Lucas didn't press the issue as they reached the Pittman house.

It was massive, larger than most other buildings before it.  A testament to decadence, as Lucy once called it.  A neon sign, as Ryan once called it.

They parked the car in the miniature car-park and walked up to the double doors at the entrance.

Lucy didn't bother knocking, just shoving the door open and marching inside.  Lucas followed her as she walked up the stairs, with Lucas splitting up as Lucy went to see Marcus and Lucas Bethany.

Marcus was in his study, news quietly droning on and on in the corner as he wrote up new documents and planned meetings outside of town two months from now. He heard the door knock three times and swivelled on his chair. 

"Lucy, dear?"

Lucy opened the door and closed it behind her.  "Hey, dad."

Marcus turned back to his papers and signed his name on the bottom of one.

"How are things?"

"Doing good.  Lucas is taking care of Bethany and so on."

"I see,"  He said.  "You don't normally come into my study after working at that soup kitchen unless you have a request."

"It's not a big one!"  Lucy protested.  "It's just that I think I should move this whole thing with the heroism out of here.  I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt, dear."

"You will. I already fought Skidmark and it's only time before sneaking out from here won't work.  I know a few places for sale that a cheap near-"

"Hold on,"  Marcus raised his hand up.  "You _fought_ Skidmark?  Are you hurt?  Did you win?  Is he arrested?"

"H-he got away, dad.  I almost had him and he ran."

Mr Pittman's face turned sad.  He got off the chair and walked over to his eldest daughter, wrapping her in a hug.  "Oh _Lucy_.  You'll get him next time, I'm sure of it."

\---

Three small houses, bought for cheap anonymously. Each one was close to each other, close to the borders of gang territory, but not straddling the lines.

One in ABB territory, three blocks from the E88 controlled streets.  One in the patrolled areas nearby the Merchants, and a final one was nearby some small stores in the better areas of downtown, not a mile away from where Coil's men were regularly seen fighting the Empire.

She made a slight exaggeration as to how close they were, but that wasn't a major problem.  They were all easily escapable and easy to approach inconspicuously with the surrounding areas leading to dense, hard to navigate streets and alleyways nearby.

More importantly, each had multiple doors and a basement.  Lucy began her work by renovating the insides of each house. She, Lucas, Tom and Ryan began installing CCTV where they could in positions that would be hard to notice without assistance. Furniture and supplies were brought into the house and the basement was transformed into a base of operations.

Most importantly, they learned Bethany did not apply her tape to CCTV.  For the first time, they got a good look at their friend's new form.  Her legs were elongated, more like a Kangaroo or a Rabbit than a human.  Her foot stood out in it's extended length, and so did her longer, bony fingers.  A snout stood where her nose, mouth and jaw used to lie, looking more like a cat's face or a dog, if the hair was removed.  Finally, Bethany had her torso stretched and pulled to be as tall as she used to be.  

There was no way to console this change; Bethany was indeed a monster.

 

 


	8. 2.2

More raids and attacks against the remnants of the Merchants while Skidmark hid ensured that the power and territory of Lucy's team would exist and not disappear as soon as she turned her back.  She talked to each hostage, each person in every raid to spread the ideas she wanted - to offer the power she held.

She crossed off candidates that didn't heed her warnings; addicts that still took hard drugs instead of go to get help, people who tried to play off her and the Merchants, homeless who refused to go to shelters instead of squat in squalid buildings.

Twenty three people decided to join her, only twelve managed what she asked of them.

And of that Twelve, only four were good enough to accept her powers so far, for different reasons.

Firegrant looked at the group of four assembled before her in the Merchant-side house she bought, while Counterstroke stood nearby.  The basement wall had a map with magnets holding up transparent film of different colours; Red for ABB, Blue for Her group, Black for E88, Yellow for Coil and Green for Merchants.

They'd cleaned themselves up, but as expected of the sorts of people who'd join a gang like the Merchants, they were lacking in changes of clothes.

Firegrant planned to change that.  If she couldn't help four people, she couldn't help the city.

"Daniel, Megan, Anthony, Alyssa,"  She listed off her four recruits.  "I'm here to talk to you in relative private, because I can trust you the most.  I spent several days getting everyone to improve themselves, but you four have done the best you could and more."

She looked at Alyssa before dragging her view to the other girl, Megan.  She felt a pull emanate from her, not too strong but strong enough.  She had powers, and she hid them.

"I'm giving you four a taste of my powers to use responsibly, and in return I'd like you to attend patrols with us.  You'll essentially be capes with my powers.  I'm going to be paying you not in drugs but money.  Either way, I promise to assist you.  Jobs, training, healthcare... You ask, I'll help.  I promise.  That's what I've been promising."

"Why?"  She turned to see Anthony stand out.  "Why do this?  I mean, I don't know but-"

"I'm a hero, and I want to fix this city.  I want to stop the drugs, the lynchings, the robberies, the fucking mayhem,"  Firegrant shook her head and stepped back to the map.  "I don't plan on being useless or a criminal.  I want to save Brockton."

Counterstroke leaned on a table in the centre of the room that the four non-capes stood in front of and coughed loudly, turning to his leader.

"Ah,"  Firegrant jumped to her feet.  "Today's mission; I want to hit an Empire base.  if I'm correct, Two Empire capes are in Boston and Krieg is missing, along with a few others.  I want to hit their bases while they are occupied with Coil. Any takers?"

The four stood dumbfounded, thinking of questions to ask.  Eventually, One of them stuck up a hand.

"Just us?" Anthony asked.

"No, my friend Counterstroke over there and another teammate who has yet to name himself will be there. We just want about two of you."

Anthony smiled a little.  "I'll do it. I won't get hurt, right?"

"Hopefully not," Counterstroke answered. "We just need you to look out and torch the building."

Alyssa stuck her hand up. "I'll do it!"

Firegrant smiled; two for two.

"Megan, Daniel?  Go upstairs and do whatever you need to do. You can leave for now.  Counterstroke?  Get supplies ready for tomorrow."

Counterstoke coughed again.

"Wait, before I forget-" Megan stopped with her foot on the bottom step. She turned around to Firegrant. "I have phones for this.  Cheap disposables."

Firegrant pulled out and tossed two phones at Daniel and Megan.  Daniel fumbled but caught his easily.  "Now you're dismissed."

As the pair turned up to walk away with Counterstroke, they could hear Firegrant still talking.

"Now, I have a few powers, Most of them are Shaker variants but there is a Brute power there as well. I'm thinking of giving you this Shock and Awe..."

\---

The twelfth of March; Show time.

Counterstroke, Alyssa, Ted and Anthony lay belly down on a nearby roof, passing binoculars between each other.

Two guards with guns, a rooftop entrance for flyers.  Rune, more likely than not.  The building was small, out of the way.  They were viewing it from the end of the street.

Counterstroke tapped Ted.

"Use your power,"  He suggested.

"Um, any hints?"  Ted asked sheepishly.

"Try it for something like provoking the guards and living or mayhaps staying in the building?  Just a few ideas."

Ted nodded. "I'll try."

Three seconds passed and Ted hissed in pain.

"What was that?"  Anthony asked.

"I-I don't know, there's no form I can use."

"For what?"

"Well um, I was afraid of encountering one of the Empire's capes, so I chose the task of walking in and not getting hurt by any Empire capes. Can't avoid taking a beating or _something_."

"So there's a cape inside,"  Counterstroke finished.


	9. 2.3

Counterstoke knew two things. There was a cape inside, and they _must_  fight. To bail out on the first night out with the new recruits was stupid, cowardly and would only bring issues to the forefront. Lucy - Firegrant wouldn't like that.  She needed allies, and squandering trust too early is going to hurt her the most.

"Okay, so we have capes inside.  We don't know how many. Anyone wish to recite the roster with me?"

Ted put his fingers up.  "Kaizer is the current leader. I'm not sure he'd be all alone."

"He'd also be unable to kill you effectively,"  Counterstroke added.  "Your power does happen work on powers, and he's skilled and charismatic, not powerful."

Ted frowned. "Purity and um, Hookwolf?"

Counterstroke turned to the former Merchants.  "Any ideas?"

Anthony shook his head.  Counterstroke turned to Alyssa, who had her hand up.  "Purity's been focused on hitting ABB and o- _Merchant_ places," she corrected herself. "Maybe it's a dogfighting ring, or a fight club? That's what Hookwolf involves himself with."

Counterstroke nodded.  "Good summary. He's strong enough to break T- my teammate's power, and he's active."

He knew he was delaying, but there needed to be a plan.  Charging in blind was stupid. All he knew was that a powerful cape - most likely Hookwolf and possibly his cronies was there, more than capable of fighting and escalating. The likeliness of it being Rune or Purity was pretty low.

Alyssa and Anthony both had the Skidmark and Alarm variants from Firegrant, but who knew how long they'd last.

Wait, he thought.  That's it.

He patted Ted on the back.

"Change into something that can spread a fire inn the warehouse."

Ted took a step back and focused.  His neck swelled to a thick tube and his skin began growing a leathery hid, starting at the lips.  His arms grew, elongating and developing new elbows. His hands became massive, feet on their own.

Finally, Ted's stomach swelled. His loose clothes stretched and tore off, revealing his adult sized frog-like body.

"It feel-"  Ted didn't finish before he threw up a small portion of sludge.

Alyssa scrambled to her feet and backed away from Ted.

"Shh!" Counterstroke put his finger to his mouth because she made too loud a noise.  "Use your power on that black stuff."

Alyssa took several seconds to calm down before she focused on the ground where the black mess landed.  A red line appeared on the floor, the sludge rolled and caught ablaze instantly as it was thrown off the roof's edge.

 _Perfect,_ Counterstroke thought.

"We're going to burn the building instead of an assault," he announced.  It was a plan that involved the two recruits themselves, something that was better than having them watch.  Not only that, it was safe - or at least safer than attacking directly.

 

\---

 

They got off the building and managed to get close by avoiding the guards usual sightlines.  Counterstroke closed the gap and charged around the corner with a brick.

Two solid hits knocked out the pair of guards, and a couple seconds to check showed that what he did wasn't immediately lethal.

Counterstroke turned to his teammates and whispered orders rapidly. "Anthony, hep me move these two. T-Sluge, cover this side with your stuff, make a pile in front of the door. Alyssa, wait for us to give you the okay."

Everyone scrambled into position, and after he dragged two knocked out bodies down the street and placed them on some trashbags the pair returned.

"Do it."

The wall of the building lit up and the ooze flew through the door as Alyssa's Skidmark variant moved everything.  Counterstroke grabbed some trashbags and threw both of them at the doorway as well, for extra kindling.

He turned to his allies as the shouting and warnings about fire began.

"Okay, let's go."

Alyssa and Anthony bowled over, throwing up.

Ted stumbled, trying to cover his ears.  When he couldn't, he settled for throwing up a pile of sludge at the building.  Counterstroke turned to see what caught Ted's attention, but he felt it rake across his face ineffectually instead, making him react by covering his face with his hands and squealing.  Not to protect his eyes, but his mask.

Cricket landed beside Counterstroke.

She was smiling in her cage mask, but it fell as soon as Counterstroke pulled his hands away from his face. No cuts or scrapes at all.

He smiled, but the flying dumpster landing directly on him ruined the effect as it crumpled. Almost like a looney tunes cartoon, Counterstroke stepped out from the inside, showing the hole he poked through.

Alyssa was almost right. Cricket was there, but so was Rune. An unlikely tag team.

 


	10. 2.4

Two problems that needed to be solved.

Cricket in the middle, Rune somewhere up above, floating on a large wooden table she probably pilfered from the inside of the den that burned. Cricket wasn't the sort that hung out alone. Hookwolf's clique of rumoured Ex-prize fighters usually stuck together. Why was she with Rune?

Alyssa didn't care. She put a barrier between herself and Cricket and stepped back, looking upwards quickly.

Rune didn't seem to have anything else apart from the table and dumpster under her control, thankfully.

Smoke wanted to billow out the building, but the Crimson to light red gradient line on the floor kept forcing the smoke back inside the door.

Counterstroke charged at Cricket, who dodged to the left and closed the gap between her and Sludge.

She was already holding the pair of scythe-like weapons and she drew them down Sludge's massive arms, grazig the skin but not cutting it.

He howled, and threw up more gunk which she dodged away from by rolling under and in between his arms.

Rune was watching overhead, too far away for us to fight. She drifted in the air, lowering herself at a distance away from the larger group.

Counterstroke turned to Anthony. "Use your power."

Anthony raised his arm and closed his eyes as a bright flash of fire ignited the space where Cricket stood. The fire did nothing, forcing Cricket back and igniting the sludge on the floor.

The street darkened as quickly as it brightened, the only sources of light coming from the now burning building and the small sludge pile in the center of the wide alley.

Rune hopped off the table and fell three feet to the ground. Counterstroke pointed at her and tapped his larger partner.

"Sludge! Something that can stop Rune, and hopefully Cricket without getting too roughed up!"

Sludge made an effort of shaking his head. "I can't change right now, I think. Um, my power won't let me."

-

Cricket was closing the gap to Alyssa, who'd backed up and was throwing down lines frantically. Cricket dodged each one, weaving from side to side and even backtracking as the Black girl made an impromptu pseudo-maze as she panicked.

She turned to check how much space she had, and realized that she didn't have much left. There was a wall and trash on the floor, but no escape.

 _Trash,_ Alyssa thought. _Here goes._

She put a line over the bag, and it rolled towards Cricket, igniting as it did so.

Cricket stepped past it, avoiding that and another line which sealed the dead end Alyssa was trapped in. "Trapped," Cricked rasped. "Can't escape."

The second rubbish bag was ripped, and the garbage spread as the network of lines dragged it apart in the air and ignited it. It rolled over Cricket, barely grazing her or turning to ash before it touched her. She wheezed a cackle and turned to face Counterstroke.

-

Sludge had barreled down the street and grabbed Rune with an oversized arm, lifting her up and putting out the fired by smothering them. The girl was young, Definitely younger than Ted or Ryan by three or four years. A waste, really. She'd joined the Empire so young.

"Let me fucking go!" Rune cussed while she thrashed in Sludge's arm.

"No."

"Put me down!"

Sludge - Ted hesitated. He raised her higher with his arm, and then threw her into the pavement, hard.  Rune screamed, but her cry stopped as she smashed into the pavement and bin bags below her.

She didn't quite bounce, but she hit the floor loud enough for there to be _noise_.

Her chest still rose and fell, meaning he hadn't killed her at least.

-

Counterstroke stepped into Cricket's wild swing.  Her blade bounced off the side of his thigh and she turned the backlash to her advantage, spinning on her toes and twirling past him.

He took a large step back and swung his arm out to grab her, making the villain duck under to avoid getting caught.

 _Too slippery,_   Counterstroke frowned at the thought.   _We can't hit her, but she can hit us._

His attempt to keep Cricket away from Anthony was failing.  The man lost his sight for using his power, and if Cricket closed the gap...

There was a short scream that echoed in the alley.  Everyone turned to see Rune, prone on the ground and Sludge towering over her.

"Hostage!"  Counterstroke yelled,  "Sludge, grab her!"

Cricket took a step towards Rune, and then stopped, raising her unarmed hand.

She was pointing at the dozen or so E88 members, Presumably from inside the building.

Sludge lifted Rune up by the hood and gently waved her around.  Thankfully she had a mask underneath, but her blonde hair fell out, some singed.

"Don't move!" Counterstroke yelled out aloud.  "Get down on the ground and disarm yourselves!"

Several thugs looked at Cricket, waiting for her answer.  She slowly placed her scythe on the ground, Staring at Anthony.  Slowly, almost one by one, the thugs followed suit as they lay down their knives, bats, pipes and guns.

She couldn't risk an attack.  Outnumbered in the case of powers.

Counterstroke felt his costume and found some zip-ties.  Not enough, Tying them all up would take too long, and who knew who was coming.

Alyssa made her lines fade and ran back to the folds of the rest of the group.

"We are going to leave,"  Counterstroke announced  "And you are going to watch us leave. Understand?"  He began backing up towards Sludge, gesturing for Anthony and Alyssa to follow him and Sludge as they made their retreat.

He leaned into Alyssa's ear. "Make a wall for us to escape."

She made three barriers end to end, the gaps were thin, but nobody would risk getting burned.  Cricket watched intently as each barrier was set up.

As soon as the four were at the end of the alley, they picked up the pace, running away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had to look around to find Rune and Cricket's "voices". Here's all the lines Rune has:
> 
> “You’ve taken this whole fucking city as your territory,” Rune retorted, scowling. “Where are we supposed to go?” “You can’t just take the whole city.” “You assholes!” Rune growled.
> 
> And after Skitter covers Victor's face with bugs to stop him from undoing Tat's damage - Othala only stared, while Rune offered a slow nod.
> 
> Adding her history and so on, I was able to get her voice easily. She's rude, she's blunt but she's not like Bitch, who's dangerously aggressive.
> 
> Cricket's blunt, she cuts out words when she has to, due to the fact she uses an artificial larynx. "Look. I've got a-" “Sound. The glass was singing. Still is.”


	11. 2.5

Firegrant paced in the upstairs bedroom after she got the call from Ted and Lucas.  Her face was coloured with worry as she waited for Ryan and Ted to arrive.

Ted's power failed him, twice.  If he found every task impossible, or if his form was unable to do anything but help stuff burn he could have been hurt. It was a miracle that the form he got gave him armoured flesh.

It was also miracle that Lucas - the only Brute in the team - was there to take the brunt of the damage.  If anyone other than him was hit by the dumpster...

Lucy wiped a collection of cold sweat beads off her forehead.  Ted was Ryan's best friend.  How could she be so _reckless_ as to almost send him to his death?

She knew the issues didn't just rely on close calls and bad luck; She'd spent three hours worrying and thinking about it.  Small raids of Two was not good, especially for a gang larger and deadlier than the Merchants of Archer's Bridge.  The Protectorate and Wards get away with it by having both backup and serious backing from the government; Firegrant's team didn't have this.

As much as splitting into teams of two was a good idea, it was stupid.  There would have to be at least three of them from now on, with everyone else on call.  Also, everyone needs to be quick with the PRT from now on.

But there was the number of bases she had.  What if the fight reflected badly?  She's useless without people to give powers to.  Almost as useless as she was when she was hanging out outside of reach, unable to copy new variants. Alyssa and Anthony apparently couldn't serve as a conduit for reach.  She had to be there in person.

No.  She couldn't let the idea that they were cowards hang in the air.  She needed to do something drastic.

Multiple raids?

She heard the door open downstairs.

Firegrant got up and opened the door, only to see that the visitor wasn't familiar at all.

An alabaster mask and crown, with a dress shirt and tight leggings.

_Intruders._

It's just her, and this guy is invading her home, her sanctuary.

Firegrant flipped through possible attacks.  Skidmark and Alarm were shaker powers.  Much also fit the bill.  To dangerous, too likely to set the building ablaze.

She chose Counterstrike's power.

Firegrant charged and immediately fell on her face as the masked man moved his arm.  She picked herself up, only to see the sparking end jab into her neck and send her to sleep.

\---

Firegrant woke up slowly to muffled voices.  It was hard for her to move at all, and the multiple moving blurs didn't help.

"This place is a living accommodation.  Part civilian, Part base," one female voice said.

"Are we ---?"  Muffled, harder to hear.

"No, Grue.  The important stuff is in the basement."

The faded blurs moved.

"Wait, Regent."

"Yeah?"  A third voice. Male.

More pain.  Firegrant blacked out again.

\---

Ryan walked beside Ted as they made their way down the street from one of the other houses to the one Firegrant was staying in.  Hers was the closest to Downtown, While the main base was the one closest to ABB territory.

Ryan was walking a little faster than usual, and not because of the time. It was because he knew he had to give a patented Pittman talk (TM) to Lucy before she inevitably talked herself into doubling down.

"Ryan,"  Ted broke the silence.  "Um, don't you think we should just talk to her tomorrow?"

"Not at all, Ted,"  Ryan replied.  "I need to drive this home before she begins to think it's not a big deal.  She tears herself up and then usually goes back to normal with this sort of thing.  I don't want to let her think this is okay, or for her to do anything stupid." 

"Is it also because you're um, having second thoughts?"  Ted asked.

Ryan didn't answer.  Not because Ted was right, but because he saw something move in the dark.  Large Creatures, bounding from roof to roof away from the safehouse.

He picked up the pace, eventually breaking into a run.  The safehouse was fine from the outside, but he slammed open the door.

"Ted, find Lucy!"

Ted's nose grew in length, the nostrils turning open.  His eyes shortened, and his legs shifted in skeleture, making his trousers into shorts.

He sniffed the air a few times.  "Basement."

Ryan ran to the basement door and slammed it open.  The room was ransacked, and Firegrant was sleeping in a chair.  A quick note saw her arms and legs were ziplocked to it.

_No._

He practically leapt the last few steps and ran over to his sister.

_Oh god no._

He checked her pulse, and when he was satisfied she was alive he checked her clothes. She was unharmed. 

"Ted,"  he turned around to his friend at the top of the stairs.  "Get some scissors. Now!"

 Ted complied as his body slowly shifted to normal, the task he changed for complete.


End file.
